


Champagne Problems

by rem_writes



Category: Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: F/M, Love Confessions, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Relationship, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29141505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rem_writes/pseuds/rem_writes
Summary: A collection of moments in Jo and Laurie's lives, in relation to the song "Champagne Problems" by Taylor Swift
Relationships: Theodore Laurence/Amy March, Theodore Laurence/Josephine March
Kudos: 9





	Champagne Problems

**Author's Note:**

> I started this the weekend after Evermore came out, but I'm super slow lol. Anyway this song is 100% about them. Thank you Taylor Swift for the inspiration, I love you

You booked the night train for a reason  
So you could sit there in this hurt  
Bustling crowds or silent sleepers  
You’re not sure which is worse

Moonlight shines through the windows of Laurie’s train car as it makes its way to New York and the boat to Europe. Grandfather Laurence sits across from him, head on his shoulder as he snores softly. Laurie watches the trees pass by his window as he desperately tries to ignore the ache in his chest. He had never expected Jo to turn him down. He had to get out of town as soon as he could after her rejection. He wanted to respect her wishes, but the thought of seeing her again, if only through his window, was too painful for Laurie.  
The soft chatter of the other occupants of the train was almost overwhelming, but when they stopped and Laurie was left with only his own thoughts, he felt that silence may truly be the loudest experience there was. He wished there was something to distract him from the unused train ticket in his pocket and his memories of Jo’s face as she told him she could never love him. 

Because I dropped your hand while dancing  
Left you out there standing  
Crestfallen on the landing  
Champagne Problems.  
You’re moms ring in your pocket  
My picture in your wallet  
Your heart was glass, I dropped it  
Champagne Problems.  
Laurie held Jo’s hand in his as he led her in a dance. She followed his lead absentmindedly, her attention focused on Meg and John Brooke as they laughed and fed each other cake. The world could be burning and Laurie wouldn’t even notice, so long as he was with Jo. He thought, maybe, it was the perfect time to ask her. Meg was moving on to start her own family, Amy was leaving for Paris to start her life. Why shouldn’t they begin their own now?  
“Jo.”  
She looked up at the sound of his voice and smiled softly.  
“I need to ask you something. Talk a walk with me?”  
The two of them left the party, Jo’s arm looped through Laurie's. They had walked up a hill, right to the top, where they could overlook the town where they had spent their whole lives. Where they will continue to spend their lives, together, if Laurie’s proposal goes as planned. His hand brushed the small box in his pocket. His mothers engagement ring, given to him by his grandfather when Laurie had told him that he planned on proposing to Jo.  
Laurie had taken Jo’s hand in his once more, brought out the ring, and told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.  
Jo had asked him to stop talking, had told him that marriage was an awful idea, that it would ruin their friendship. They just weren’t right for each other. She didn’t love him as he loved her.  
Jo didn’t know if she could ever love a man as Laurie wanted her to love him.  
She dropped his hand, apologized once more, and left him standing on the hill, his heart in shreds. 

You told your family for a reason  
You couldn’t keep it in  
Your sister splashed out on the bottle  
Now no ones celebrating

Laurie had sat on that hill for what felt like hours. He couldn’t believe Jo had said no. Ever since they had become friends, he had thought it would be the two of them against the world for the rest of their lives. Now, he didn’t know if she would even want to see him again. He didn’t know if he could bare seeing her again, either.  
He had trudged home that night, cheeks tear stained and knuckles sore from gripping the box in his pocket as tightly as possible for hours. It was as if Laurie thought if he held on long enough, hard enough, he could cling to this wild dream he had had to be with Jo.  
When he had made it to the porch, his grandfather had pulled the door open excitedly, and demanded to know where his new granddaughter was. When he had seen Laurie's face, his expression fell and he ushered him inside and held him close as he cried. 

Dom Perignon, you brought it  
No crowd of friends applauded  
Your hometown skeptics called it  
Champagne Problems.  
You had a speech, you’re speechless  
Love slipped beyond your reaches  
And I couldn’t give a reason  
Champagne Problems.

Laurie could remember the hours he had spent bent over the small desk in the corner of his room, fingers covered in ink as he painstakingly planned out his proposal speech. It had felt like this one moment would decide his entire future, and he could not afford to have the speech be subpar.  
Now, he sat at the same desk, head resting in his right hand, his bottle of champagne in his left. He hadn’t known what to say to his grandfather, to the people in town who had asked how the proposal went. All those hours spent planning, sent tumbling down the drain. His future was thrown out before his eyes. 

Your Midas touch on the Chevy door  
November flush and your flannel cure  
“This dorm was once a madhouse”  
I made a joke, “Well, it’s made for me”  
How evergreen our group of friends  
Don’t think we’ll say that word again  
And soon they’ll have the nerve to deck the halls  
That we once walked through

Laurie left for college on a cloudy day in August. He packed the carriage with his grandfather's help, said his goodbyes to the March girls, and was off. He had left home for Harvard almost a dozen times now, but the sense of excitement he felt this time was something completely new. This time, he was bringing Jo with him and showing her around the campus.  
The girl was practically buzzing with excitement in the seat across from him, rambling on about what she thought it would be like to get such a world class education. They pulled up outside the school and Jo nearly broke the door off its hinges in her hurry to get out of the carriage.  
Laurie had laughed, climbing out after her and offering his arm. The two of them started off towards his dorm room, Laurie pointing out his favorite spots on campus; the large tree to the left of the main hall where he often studies, the stairs he sits on to eat lunch with his friends.  
When they got to his room, his roommate, John, was already there, unpacking his bags. Laurie had introduced him to Jo, squeezing his hands into tight fists when John had smiled just a bit too friendly. The door opened behind them, and a long haired girl had come through. John had introduced her as his younger sister, Betty, come to see him off.  
Jo had felt her hands clam up when the other girl had shaken them, praying desperately that the others couldn’t hear her heart beating profusely. Jo had always gotten like this around pretty girls, and she wished that she could have the same reaction to Laurie. Have the same reaction to any boy, so that she may have an actual future with them besides the ones she laid awake at night imagining.  
Later that night, Jo had taken Laurie's arm again as he led her out of the dorm and back to the carriage.  
“I wish I could attend college,” Jo had sighed sadly. “I do think I would fit in here, don’t you?”  
“I do, my dear, and I do wish that you could stay here with me.” Laurie had replied.  
Laurie wished Jo could go to school, wished all women could go to school, but none so much as Jo. She was so intelligent and determined, and he knew she would do wonders. Most importantly, it would make her happy. Laurie would capture the moon from the sky if he could, as long as it would make Jo happy.  
He helps her into the carriage and watches her hang from the window to wave at him as she pulls away. The moonlight glows on her face, reflects off of the curls of her hair, and Laurie loves her then. Loves her then, in the cool August air, and will love her forever. 

One for the money, two for the show  
I was never ready so I watch you go  
Sometimes you just don’t know the answer  
Till someone's on their knees and asks you

It’s not like Jo hadn’t thought about it. Marrying Teddy. Why wouldn’t she? He’s the perfect person for her; her best friend, knows everything about her and sticks around anyway. Her family loves him. He would be able to supply for them as long as they need.  
She always thought she would say yes, should he ask. But standing there, watching him pour his heart out to her, she knew she couldn’t. Laurie was a wonderful boy who deserved all of the love in the world. He didn’t need broken Jo who knows she has every reason to love him, but cannot bring herself to. Jo, who would not be able to live his life. Jo, who spends her time writing until she can no longer feel her fingers, eyes straining in the dim light of half burned candles. Jo, who not only doesn’t feel that love for Laurie, but does not believe she could ever feel that way for anyone. He deserves love, true love, which she could not give him. So she told him no. And watched as she shred his heart in her hand. 

“She would have made such a lovely bride,  
What a shame she’s fucked in the head” They said  
But you’ll find the real thing instead  
She’ll patch your tapestry that I shred  
Jo trailed down the stairs of the New York home absentmindedly. She held a stack of letters in her hands, searching through them for news of Beth. As she rounded the corner, she heard her voice and looked up from her papers. The home's maid, Augusta, was waving her over from the next room. Jo went in, casting her eyes from Augusta to gossiping Inez.  
“Is it true?” Inez asked eagerly. “Did you turn down Theodore Laurence?”  
“Yes,” Jo had said, and then, “How did you know that?”  
“Oh, why would you reject him? Is there something messed up inside of your head? Do you not know how rich his family is?”  
“I do know, in fact. Laurie is a close friend of mine, and I did not love him. He deserves to be loved, to be absolutely adored, and I could not do that.” And with that Jo had turned sharply on her heel and fled the room. Jo felt awful every time she thought of the look on Laurie’s face when she had left him there on that hill. She didn’t regret it, but she wishes things could have turned out differently. Someday in the future, Laurie would fall in love again, and some beautiful girl would repair the shredded tapestry that was his heart, Jo knew. 

And hold your hand while dancing  
Never leave you standing  
Crestfallen on the landing  
With Champagne Problems.  
You’re moms ring in your pocket  
Her picture in your wallet  
You won’t remember all my  
Champagne Problems.

Amy loves Laurie. Has always loved Laurie. Loves the way he walks, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Loves his curly brown hair, and how it falls into his eyes. Loves his laugh, how it makes his face light up. Amy has always wished she could be the one to make him light up like that.  
And now she is. He is smiling at her as they dance across the ballroom. And maybe, Amy thinks, he isn’t smiling quite as widely as he used to. Maybe it was wrong of her to accept his proposal. She cannot be Jo, as she knows he will always wish for. But, he says he loves her. And she loves him. She is determined to make him as happy as possible; as happy as he has made her.  
He shouldn't wish for her sister anymore, not when it is her paintings he carries folded neatly in his pocket to show off to his friends, not when it is her who wakes up beside him every morning. Not when she is the one he has chosen, the one he has had a family with. But sometimes, Amy thinks, he still does wish for Jo. 

You won't remember all my  
Champagne Problems


End file.
